The invention relates to a strand guiding roller to be used in continuous casting plants and having at least three roller bodies journaled on a stationary axle, wherein the axle is provided with longitudinal channels and wherein radial channels originating from the longitudinal channels lead to a bearing-accommodating annular recess of the roller body for producing a coolant and/or lubricant circuit.
In strand guiding rollers of this kind each roller body is separately provided with its own supply and drain conduit for the coolant and/or lubricant. These supply and drain conduits are guided parallel to each other through the stationary axle. In particular with strand guiding rollers having a great number of roller bodies, such as those used in continuous casting plants for slabs, a multiplicity of channels must be provided in the axle of each strand guiding roller, hence the production of such a roller is complicated and expensive. Furthermore, each channel has to be connected to a pipe conduit for supplying or draining the coolant and/or lubricant, which increases the costs of the continuous casting plant and impairs its accessibility.
Strand guiding rollers must have as uniform a course of temperature as possible over their longitudinal extension so that the roller is subjected to a largely uniform thermal wear over its longitudinal axis. This requirement is opposed by the thermal influence of the strand, in particular of a wide slab. The roller is heated to the greatest extent at its middle portion, which is contacted by the hottest region of the strand and from which it is most difficult to conduct away the heat. Accordingly, the bearings arranged in or near the middle of the roller are subjected to the greatest thermal wear, and thus they have the greatest fault liability and are worn earlier than the bearings arranged closer to the two ends of the roller.